Unless otherwise indicated herein, the materials described in this section are not prior art to the claims and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
A typical cellular wireless network includes a number of base stations that radiate to define wireless coverage areas, such as cells and cell sectors, in which wireless coverage devices (WCDs) such as cell phones, tablet computers, tracking devices, embedded wireless modules, mobile hotspots, and other wirelessly-equipped communication devices, can operate. Each base station may be coupled via a backhaul to a core network, which in turn provides connectivity with one or more transport networks such as the public switched telephone network (PSTN) and/or the Internet for instance. With this arrangement, a WCD operating in coverage of the network may engage in air interface communication with a base station and may thereby communicate via the base station with various remote network entities or with other WCDs served by the base station.
The cellular wireless network may operate in accordance with a particular air interface protocol or “radio access technology,” with communications from the base stations to WCDs defining a downlink (or forward link) and communications from the WCDs to the base stations defining an uplink (or reverse link). Examples of existing air interface protocols include, without limitation, Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) (e.g., 1xRTT and 1xEV-DO), Long Term Evolution (LTE), WiMAX, iDEN, TDMA, AMPS, Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), GPRS, UMTS, EDGE, MMDS, WI-FI, and BLUETOOTH. The architecture of the cellular wireless network may vary depending on the protocol employed.
The backhaul that couples the base stations to the core network may include equipment, such as a backhaul router, which functions to distribute signaling data (e.g., paging and/or other control data) and/or bearer data between the base stations and a signaling entity of the core network. For instance, in a CDMA network, a backhaul router may distribute signaling and/or bearer data between base stations and a radio network controller (RNC) or base station controller (BSC). As another example, in an LTE network, a backhaul router may distribute signaling and/or bearer data between one or more base stations and a mobility management entity (MME). Other configurations are possible as well. The backhaul router may also perform other functions, such as supporting routing protocols.